Cowes-Dinard record falls

Success on the first outing for Lending Club 2

Aboard the 105ft trimaran Lending Club 2, Renaud Laplanche, co-skipper Ryan Breymaier and their crew have established a new world speed sailing record across the English Channel from the Royal Yacht Squadron line in Cowes to Dinard, France. Starting at 06:42 BST yesterday and finishing at 11:56, their time of 5 hours, 15 minutes, at an average speed of 26.36 knots betters the previous record of 5 hours, 23 minutes set by skipper Brian Thompson, Helena Darvelid, navigator Adrienne Cahalan and the crew of the 110ft catamaran Maiden II in September 2002 at an average speed of 25.6 knots.

The new record is subject to ratification by the World Speed Sailing Record Council (WSSRC).

Lending Club 2, started life as Groupama 3 and was raced to victory in last autumn's Route du Rhum by Loick Peyron in the colours of Banque Populaire. It has been chartered by Laplanche for a series of races and record-breaking attempts to take place this year.

Laplanche is CEO of San Francisco-based Lending Club, the world’s largest marketplace connecting borrowers and investors. Lending Club claims as its mission 'to transform the banking system to make credit more affordable and investing more rewarding. The company's technology platform enables it to deliver innovative solutions to borrowers and investors. Lending Club has been prominently recognized as a leader for its growth and innovation, including being named one of Forbes’ America’s Most Promising Companies three years in a row, a CNBC Disruptor two years in a row, a 2012 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, and one of The World’s 10 Most Innovative Companies in Finance by Fast Company.'

Other crew for the record included Jan Majer, Stanislas Delbarre, Olivier Laplanche, navigator Boris Herrmann, French racing veterans Jean-Baptiste Le Vaillant and Roland Jourdain, and OBR Quin Bisset. Shore based weather routing was provided by Wouter Verbraak.

Following preparation overseen by Breymaier in France and training in the past week, the boat had been stationed in Gosport, UK waiting for the ideal weather window, while Laplanche flew in at the last minute on Monday to take the helm once weather conditions had been confirmed.

“After our attempt at breaking the Transpacific record in 2013, we had been working on assembling the right boat, crew and weather conditions to make another record attempt,” said Laplanche. “The Cowes to Dinard record is a very special challenge that had been around for over 10 years; I am very proud of what the crew accomplished today."

Breymaier added: “We always knew the Cowes to Dinard record would be very tough to break as Maiden set the bar high. We’re overjoyed with our result today; it’s a great start to our record-breaking plans for the year."